North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to further deepen relations with China to a "new strategic level" in a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping marking China's National Day, state media reported Thursday, underscoring increasingly close ties between the two neighbors.
Kim sent his "warmest congratulations and best wishes" to Xi and the Chinese people on the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
In the message, Kim emphasized the durability of the countries' long-standing relationship, saying their friendship, "forged at the cost of blood," would remain unshaken regardless of changes in the international environment.
He also reaffirmed Pyongyang's "steadfast will" to continue strengthening its traditional solidarity and cooperation with Beijing.
Kim pointed to his recent meetings with Xi, saying their summits last year and this year had reaffirmed their shared intention to transform the relationship into what he called "the most powerful and strategic relations between socialist states."
"I reaffirm my stand to lead the DPRK-China relations with deep and long historical roots to a new strategic level together with you," Kim said.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
Kim and Xi have met twice over the past year as Pyongyang and Beijing have moved to reinvigorate ties following a period in which North Korea's rapidly expanding military cooperation with Russia had drawn particular attention.
The two leaders met in Beijing in September last year before holding another summit in Pyongyang in June, when Xi made his first visit to North Korea in seven years.
During the June summit, the two sides agreed to expand high-level exchanges and cooperation in political, economic and cultural fields, with Kim describing stronger relations with Beijing as a key strategic priority for Pyongyang. North Korean state media said at the time that bilateral ties were developing at a "new strategic level."
This year also marks the 65th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between North Korea and China, signed in 1961. The anniversary has been accompanied by a series of high-level exchanges between the two countries.
In messages exchanged for the treaty anniversary in July, Kim expressed his readiness to develop bilateral ties into a "model of the most powerful and strategic relations" between socialist countries, while Xi reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to its traditional friendship with Pyongyang.
Kim sends a congratulatory message to Xi each year for China's Oct. 1 National Day, but this year's letter was notably more extensive than those issued in previous years.
The message was nearly twice as long as Kim's 2024 letter and placed greater emphasis on the strategic nature of bilateral relations, moving beyond the more customary references to traditional friendship and cooperation.
The latest message also came a day after North Korea hosted a reception in Pyongyang celebrating China's National Day. Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun and other embassy officials attended the event, according to the KCNA.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com